Network servers and other host computers may use different types of peripheral storage devices having different capacities, access times, and other operating characteristics suitable for various applications. Enterprise and data center solutions may employ multiple complementary data storage devices to achieve desired data availability, reliability, security, long-term accessibility, and cost effectiveness, among other considerations. Many networks use an automated schedule to archive data for long-term storage. Long-term storage devices may be implemented using a wide variety of storage technologies including magnetic and optical disk drives, solid-state drives, tape drives, or other types of storage devices. However, compromises among performance, capacity, and cost are often required. Tape drives continue to provide cost-effective, reliable, and energy efficient long-term data storage, particularly for high-volume backups, long-life archives, disaster recovery/business continuity, compliance, and various other applications that include inactive data.
Discrete tape partitioning involves dividing a storage tape into multiple discrete partitions to address the time and expense required in reclaiming storage tapes by allowing a particular partition to be rewritten once data has expired from that partition. However, data stored within a particular partition must still be appended to any previously stored data, which may affect time required for storage and subsequent retrieval of the data. Furthermore, while discrete tape partitioning has existed for many years, it has significant drawbacks and has been unpopular with developers as it requires the host to track which partitions contain valid data as well as the locations of the data objects or host files stored within the tape partitions. The host application is involved in processing at the end of each partition to properly direct an archive device (e.g., a tape drive) to the next applicable partition in both read and write operations.
Linear magnetic tape formats have traditionally been used as bulk media that is sequentially accessed. Data is added to the tape by appending the data to the last written location until the tape is full. Various strategies for data error detection and correction may be employed when writing data and/or reading data from linear magnetic tape. Error detection strategies ensure data integrity and may work in conjunction with data correction strategies, which attempt to correct various types of errors. Some errors that may be encountered when writing data to the magnetic tape, such as those related to defects or deterioration of the tape media, for example, may not be accommodated by the error correction techniques. As a result, due to the sequential nature of linear magnetic tape formats, a magnetic tape cartridge that encounters such an error would be retired and could not be used to write data to any remaining locations on the tape. While the tape may still be used for reading previously stored data, a substantial portion of the tape capacity may be lost.